NOVPUB
Chapter 307: Chapter 304 Chill
First-level warships fall into the iron armored ship category.
Not only do they exceed one hundred meters in length and height, but they also have a large number of crossbow carts, arrow carts, and even Fire God Cannons with a range of several miles.
Moreover, with the speed of hundreds of miles per hour provided by the spiritual materials used in their construction, such warships truly dominate the oceans.
Common Level 3 and Level 4 warships, even in groups of ten or tens, are nothing but live targets.
With their astonishing agility, and the range of their arrow carts and Fire God Cannons, they can easily penetrate and sink those wooden Level 3 and Level 4 ships, sending both the ships and their soldiers to the bottom of the sea.
Even Level 2 warships pose very limited threats to them.
During Dragon Sparrow Manor’s rule over Jiangzhou, all resources had to be funneled into the gathering and refining of Immortal Essence Gold, to exchange for the Creation Immortal Fruit that could extend life by a span of 60 years.
In such circumstances, let alone the First-level warships that required quite an amount of spiritual materials, there weren’t even many costly Level 2 warships.
When Lingxiao City took over Jiangzhou, it hadn’t been long, and even though they didn’t need to scrape by like during the era of Dragon Sparrow Manor, constructing First-level warships still required years.
This was precisely why Lizhou State paid little attention to the Jiangzhou Navy.
Unfortunately...
Gu Jinlai didn’t engage in naval warfare with the fifteen-direction alliance forces of Lizhou and Eastern Sea Nine Islands at all, instead, he executed a dimensionality reduction strike by utilizing the Mystic Bird Fighting Machines.
Under the bombardment of the electromagnetic railguns mounted on eight Mystic Bird Fighting Machines, it didn’t matter whether they were First-level Iron Armor Ships or Level 4 Wooden Ordinary Battleships—they were all blown to powder and sank into the sea.
...
Now, at a distance of several dozen miles from the battlefield, several Level 2 warships were leisurely moving toward the battlefield at the speed of sixty miles per hour.
Meanwhile, Fang Linghai, Liu Jingtiao, Ancestor Wu You, and others on the warships had already probed the surroundings multiple times with their Divine Thoughts.
After a while, Liu Jingtiao, for the third time, said to Xin Tianqi, who was responsible for receiving them, "Star Lord Xin, does Jiangzhou really plan to rely on these three hundred warships..."
He paused, glancing at the two hundred vessels that were clearly merchant ships...
Let’s just call it three hundred warships.
"Do you really plan to rely on these three hundred warships to fight a decisive battle against the alliance forces of Lizhou and Eastern Sea Nine Islands?"
"Aren’t we rushing to the battlefield now?"
Xin Tianqi said.
In reality, he was also unaware of the actual situation at the frontline.
However, Governor Gu had completed the retrofitting of the eight Mystic Bird Fighting Machines, and even if there was no improvement in combat power after modification, merely the increase in numbers was equivalent to adding eight top-tier True Monarchs.
Therefore, he was confident that Gu Jinlai would be able to defeat the fifteen-direction alliance forces of Lizhou and the Eastern Sea.
"When we boarded the ships, Star Lord Xin said that if we didn’t leave now, the fifteen-direction alliance forces of the Eastern Sea would have already been defeated. This must not be your entire fleet, right? Jiangzhou must be hiding a much larger fleet in the dark, the true foundation of Jiangzhou’s confidence in overpowering the Eastern Sea Alliance Army, am I correct?"
Fang Linghai pondered and spoke.
"This is indeed all the warships we have in Lingxiao City,"
Xin Tianqi said, "I have no reason to deceive you all on this matter."
"This..."
The True Monarchs of the Primordial Spirit from the three major forces looked at each other.
Xin Tianqi gave a slight smile, about to say something more, but at that moment, he seemed to receive some message, and promptly said, "These hundred warships and two hundred merchant ships are indeed all the naval forces of Lingxiao City, but I never said that we would use the navy to fight a decisive battle against the Eastern Sea Alliance Army."
"Not using the navy to fight a decisive battle against the Eastern Sea Alliance Army?"
Liu Jingtiao was slightly startled, "Then what will you use...?"
He didn’t finish his sentence, as he suddenly thought of something.
"Aerial war spiritual artifact, Mystic Bird Fighting Machine!?"
"Exactly,"
Xin Tianqi nodded slightly.
Upon boarding the ships, True Monarchs like Lu Zhanxian, Liu Jingtiao, Fang Linghai, Leng Ningshuang, You Quan, Wu You, and San Sheng, each a Primordial Spirit True Monarch, suddenly realized.
But soon after, their pupils shrank.
Mystic Bird Fighting Machines of Lingxiao City possess such power?
To be able to annihilate the vast fleet of two thousand warships of the Eastern Sea Alliance Army directly from the sky?
Especially when the opposition had thirteen Primordial Spirit True Monarchs and more than sixty Divinity Transformation Cultivators?
"Gentlemen, we are only a few dozen miles away from the battlefield now, and if you so wish, the battlefield is over there, about forty miles away,"
Xin Tianqi pointed in a direction and said, "If you wish, you may project your Primordial Spirits to scout, or you could use concentrated Divine Thoughts to perceive from a distance."
After speaking, to prove that he wouldn’t take any unfair advantage while their Primordial Spirits were projected, he took the initiative to project his own Primordial Spirit first, directly flying towards the direction of the battlefield. 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝔠𝔬𝖒
The other True Monarchs looked at each other, and True Monarchs Liu Jingtiao, Fang Linghai, and Ancestor Wu You quickly projected their Primordial Spirits, following after Xin Tianqi.
The remaining Monarchs activated their Divine Thoughts, rapidly perceiving towards the battlefield forty miles away.
And when their Divine Thoughts reached the battlefield, what first appeared before them were the damaged warships, drowning sailors struggling all over the sea surface, and countless bodies.
Looking at the styles of the warships, the flags they flew, and the clothing of the drowning sailors...
The complexions of these True Monarchs instantly changed.
"The Eastern Sea Alliance Army seems... to have lost!?"
Compared to perceiving through Divine Thoughts, the four True Monarchs who projected their Primordial Spirits and visited the battlefield directly saw everything more clearly.
All around them, the eight Mystic Bird Fighting Machines kept soaring over the battlefield.
Each pass over the warships was accompanied by the firing of cannon shells sinking those ships.
With the mass-energy effect, no ship could withstand the penetration of these shells.
If occasionally some cannon shells didn’t hit the vital parts of these ships, no worries, another shot would suffice.
Occasionally, sword qi and sword lights would roar up from the ships, shooting straight into the sky.
A few Primordial Spirit True Monarchs could tell that the masters of those sword lights and flying swords were the most powerful Refining God Immortals and Divinity Transformation Great Cultivators capable of controlling swords to kill.
But it was useless.
The Mystic Bird Fighting Machines were too fast.
So fast that neither the Sword Qi nor the flying swords could even keep up with their shadows.
Apart from futilely consuming the power of the Yin God, those Divinity Transformation Great Cultivators couldn’t harm the Mystic Bird Fighting Machines in the least.
The speed advantage was taken to the extreme by the Mystic Bird Fighting Machines.
Only when those Divinity Transformation Cultivators were also forced into the water due to the destruction of their warships did the Mystic Bird Fighting Machines consciously start to single out these Divinity Transformation Great Cultivators whose actions were greatly hindered and target them for elimination.
If one were a cultivator from Blue Star, they would feel that...
The scene unfolding before them was akin to fighter jets bombarding and strafing infantrymen who had lost their vehicles and could only move on foot, from a disdainful high vantage.
And all of this in an environment with absolutely no cover to hide.
This was not a fight on the same level.
Facing such attacks, it didn’t matter how many Qi Refinement, Gang Condensation, Hugging Pill, or even more Refining God and Divinity Transformation Great Cultivators there were; none of it made any difference.
Because, no matter how they resisted, they couldn’t even harm their opponents.
"How is this possible..."
"Where are the Primordial Spirit True Monarchs of the Eastern Sea Alliance Army? Could it be..."
"Over two thousand warships, sixty plus Divinity Transformation Great Cultivators, hundreds of Refining God Immortals, and... a collective of five to six thousand cultivators in the realms of Qi Refinement, Gang Condensation, and Hugging Pill... all defeated!? Defeated by eight Mystic Bird Fighting Machines?"
Liu Jingtiao, Fang Linghai, and Patriarch Wu You, watching those struggling figures in the sea, were utterly staggered by the shocking scene before them, their thoughts choking in their minds.
Those were the elite among five to six thousand cultivators, along with more than two hundred Refining God Immortals, and sixty plus Divinity Transformation alongside thirteen Primordial Spirit True Monarchs.
Yet now...
They were utterly defeated.
Without the appearance of the thirteen Primordial Spirit True Monarchs, they naturally did not believe that these True Monarchs had not accompanied the fleet.
There was only one possibility for their absence!
Annihilation!
The thirteen Primordial Spirit True Monarchs who had joined the fleet had already been defeated.
However, compared to the Divinity Transformation and Refining God cultivators who lacked the power of flight, the Primordial Spirit True Monarchs had a higher survival rate against this type of dimensionally reductive attack at sea.
"Whoosh!"
A wave of Primordial Spirit fluctuation flashed by.
The Primordial Spirits of the more cautious ones like Lu Zhanxian, Leng Ningshuang, Ancestor You Quan, and others revealed themselves one after another.
Clearly, what Divine Thought probed was far less vivid and impactful than what one could "see" with their own eyes.
Now, witnessing this extremely devastating battlefield firsthand, the emotional tumult in their Primordial Spirits was not in the least bit inferior to that of Liu Jingtiao and others.
"That War Spiritual Artifact known as the Mystic Bird..."
Lu Zhanxian muttered to himself.
At this moment, a figure burst forth explosively from the ocean.
His Essence Qi Spirit burned intensely, carrying an unstoppable determination as he shot straight for the clouds.
Through the haze, a massive Sea Beast, seemingly attracted by the scent of blood, could be seen surging at his previous hiding spot.
As soon as everyone sensed the aura of this Primordial Spirit True Monarch, they immediately recognized his identity.
"It’s Yuan Zhenhai! The leader of the Tianhai Gang, a Monarch who attained his status sixteen years ago and has led the Tianhai Gang for over a decade!"
Fang Linghai exclaimed uncontrollably.
Yuan Zhenhai, who was forced to emerge howling from the sea due to the Sea Beast’s attack, didn’t dare to delay for a moment and, becoming Man and Sword as One, burst forth with his quickest speed towards the edge of the sky.
In that instant, he managed to break the sound barrier with his body.
But alas...
It was futile.
The moment he hid in the sea, hoping to travel and evade underwater, two Mystic Bird Fighting Machines were already circling in that area of the ocean.
When Yuan Zhenhai surged into the Void, the two Mystic Bird Fighting Machines fired simultaneously.
With flickering light and surging electricity, two cannon shells shattered the Void, targeting Yuan Zhenhai at an unbelievable speed.
"Ah! Gu Jinlai!"
With a call of despair, Yuan Zhenhai unleashed his Sword Qi, spanning a thousand meters.
The next second, a cannon shell broke through the layers of Sword Qi and brutally hit his body, and despite the protection of his Spirit Armor and Gang Qi, it was of no use.
"No!"
Amidst his screams filled with regret and unwillingness, the leader of the Tianhai Gang burst into a mist of blood like a mortal hit by an artillery shell and instantly exploded.
"Bang!"
The figure that had just rushed into the Void with a tragic resolve disintegrated into pieces and plummeted down.
The breath of life swiftly left his body.
And watching Yuan Zhenhai, a Primordial Spirit True Monarch, go from a desperate final attempt burning Essence Qi Spirit to his demise, the True Monarchs from Purgatory Sect, Cold Moon Sect, and Netherworld Sect all had their pupils dilate simultaneously.
"That weapon..."
Recalling the terrifying speed of that weapon’s discharge...
An unprecedented chill enveloped everyone, including Lu Zhanxian, Leng Ningshuang, and Ancestor You Quan.
